 |
| We loved our charming room! |
It was fortunate that I even got to go to Nice! I thought I had signed up, and I was getting pretty excited for the trip. Somehow, though, my name was not on the list. The hotel/hostel was full and absolutely couldn’t accept one more person. The girl who sits next to me in class, however, willingly gave me her spot since she plans to return to Nice with a friend in two weeks. I’m so lucky.
Nice was the perfect way to spend my last weekend in France. It was a seven-hour bus ride from Chambéry, which turned out to pass quickly. The bus was comfortable, and I was able to sleep for most of the way, even though we were on the road from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
 |
| The local market was full of interesting finds, including these locally-produced spices |
We arrived in Nice just as the sun was setting behind a mountain over the Mediterranean Sea. It was then that I knew that the weekend was going to be one to remember. We pulled up to the hotel/hostel and got our keys. I shared a room with three other girls on this trip, and when we opened our door, all four of us smiled. The room was adorable! It was a rounded room with powder-blue walls and dark wood trim. The ceiling was white with flower moldings and lace curtains covered our three large windows. We had a rounded balcony (the only one in the entire building) and two bunk beds with purple mattresses. We even got a bathroom to ourselves, which is why I can’t decide if this place is a hostel or a hotel.
Though we had been eating French junk food the entire bus ride, we still were hungry for dinner. After exploring, we found a cute little bistro and sat down for dinner. It was the first time I had gnocci (a type of pasta), and I can assure all of you that it will not be the last. If you have never had it – get some next time it is available to you. You won’t regret it!
 |
| The beach was covered in these smooth rocks - but they were cozy! |
The next morning (Saturday) we got up early enough to take advantage of the entire day. We started by sitting outside at a small bakery for coffee and pastries for breakfast, then, it was off to the beach by way of the market! The beach was unlike any other that I have seen! Instead of sand, it was covered in hundreds of thousands of gray palm-sized rocks, each perfectly smoothed by time, water, and beach-goers. The rocks stretched all the way to the water, without a sand barrier. I was fascinated, as a child is fascinated with finding buried treasure, with all the different types, colors, shapes, and sizes of rocks at the water’s edge. You all should’ve seen me when I discovered sea glass! I went on a treasure hunt for it, and am bringing a rainbow-colored fist-full of it home. Because of the rocks, the sound of the crashing waves was slightly different. Before the water crashed on the shore, you could hear, if you listened real carefully, the sound of the stones rolling over each other barely under the water’s surface. It was almost whimsical.
 |
| The water was clear and blue |
We laid on our towels on the beach for hours, soaking up the sun. Around lunch time, we went back to the market to scope out something to eat. We found a cute little restaurant where we could order a whole array of crêpes. Yum! Mine was filled with ham, cheese, mushrooms, and onions, then topped with an egg sunny-side-up. It was so delicious, and I couldn’t help but smile at the French-ness of our weekend. The café was right on the market, so we looked around at jewelry and local art for a while before returning to the beach.
After coming in to the city during the sunset, we were determined to get sunset photos. So, as it started to get dark, we walked to a high point that over looked the beach and watched the sun set over the sea and the mountains together. The moon sparkled on the water like glitter, while the fishermen casted off of the rocks below our over-look.
 |
| We walked to a high place to watch the sun set over the beach |
That night, we decided to try to discover Nice’s night life; so we wandered around the buzzing district right off the beach, which was full of people in town for the city’s annual jazz festival. There were bars and restaurants everywhere, and we decided on street food for supper (I had what may be the most delicious pizza of my life to this point: goat cheese!). After not really deciding on a place, we chose, instead, to sit on the beach with us four girls and two of our guy friends. We drank wine, skipped rocks, and talked while the beach was full of other young people like us. It was the best thing we could’ve done to really experience the night life, in my opinion.
And just like that, Saturday was over.
The sun was bright and intense Sunday morning, and even at 8:00 am, we could feel our room heating up. We decided, anyway, to return to the beach for a few hours. Though it was scary hot, and we could feel ourselves burning, the beach was still as beautiful and almost surreal as the day before. We stopped by a grocery store on the way so we wouldn’t have to leave the beach for lunch, and a beach picnic was a nice addition to our Nice weekend.
 |
| Happy after our successful "vacation" |
Our two guy friends found us at the beach (a miracle in the thousands of people!) and together we wandered around “Old Nice” to see what we could find. We had French coffee and listened to a local jazz ensemble (complete with a banjo, which I thought was pretty cool). The rest of the day was spent discovering Nice, lounging, and eating. We caught the bus at 9:30 pm for the trip back to Chambéry, and although we returned to the city at 5:00 am, we still got enough sleep to make it to class on time.
We have been living the lives of French students for the past six weeks, but the weekend in Nice was great. It was the first time I truly felt like I was on vacation; like I was here to visit France, not to experience and assimilate. It was a chance to grow closer to a couple girls on this trip, and a chance to relax before the trip home. Though I don’t think I will ever try to return to Nice, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect way to spend my last weekend in France than on her stony beaches.
No comments:
Post a Comment